1975 Topps Tom Paciorek #523

Who is the greatest baseball player from the University of Houston? There are several players to consider, and Tom Paciorek would have to be included in the discussion. Tom was a two time All-American at the University of Houston leading the Cougars to the College World Series in 1967. He was drafted in the 5th round of the MLB draft.

In addition to playing baseball at UH, Paciorek also played football. He is tied for 8th in career interceptions at UH. In 1965, he led the team in punt returns. In 1966, he tied for team lead in interceptions. He was selected in the 9th round of the NFL draft.

In 1978, he was elected to the UH Hall of Honor.

Paciorek played 18 seasons in the Major Leagues with a career batting average of .282. He was named an All-Star in 1981. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. I know that sounds a little goofy, but there are some big names there.

For today's collectible, let's look at the 1975 Topps card #523. The '60s had truly classic cards. The '80s and '90s started the high tech cards. The '70s... you get the interesting color combinations associated with that decade. In this case, the top half of the card is bordered in yellow while the bottom half is bordered in green. Nice...

Why do I like this card? While many cards list where the player went to school, this card states that he also played football for UH and helped the team to defeat the Michigan State team in 1967.

Leaf Studio Doug Drabek

Doug Drabek played baseball at the University of Houston from 1981 to 1983 and was drafted in the 11th round of the draft. He made his Major League debut in 1986 and ended his career in 1998. In 1990 Drabek won the Cy Young and came in eighth in MVP voting. In 1992 he came in fifth in Cy Young voting and in 1994 he came in fourth while making his only All Star appearance.

Today's collectible is from the Leaf Studio line of cards. Leaf Studio debuted in 1991. The idea was to incorporate studio photography instead of action or candid shots at the field. The 1991 version featured black and white photographs with a maroon/purple border. I love the front of these cards. The backs... well, not so much. Black and white backs with very basic information and responses to cheesy questions.

I guess the all black and white wasn't a hit because the 1992 version included a black and white action photo in the background with a color studio portrait in the foreground, all surrounded by a gold border. The backs included similar basic information and answers as the 1991 set, but it has a much nicer layout especially with the gold border.

Basketball Checklist

I've been doing very poorly on keeping up with my blogging, but it's time to get back into it. Thanks to all of you that have been checking back. I'm going to get back into the habit of posting a couple times a week.

The good news... I have completed a fairly comprehensive list of basketball cards with UH players and coaches. It includes 3,646 collectibles, and it will be useful for collector's all of levels.

For the beginning collector, you can see what players are available. From the big names like Drexler, Hayes, and Olajuwon to Cougars that never made it to the pros like Rafael Carrasco and Tyrone Evans.

For the serious collector, see all the variations including very rare inserts. You can also use this as a checklist or wish list.

I have included links to both pdf and Excel versions of the list. If you have any questions, comments, or additions, please let me know.

Excel version 552K

pdf version 141K

My goal is to have a comprehensive list of all UH athletes. Now that basketball is done, I have baseball, football, golf, and Olympic sports to go. My dream is to create software for the UH collector. Completing these lists is the first step.